NASA Extends Discovery's Flight to ISS

In this image released by NASA TV, the crew aboard the space shuttle Discovery and International space station pose for a picture being taken by astronaut Steve Robinson, out of view, in this view from television from the Destiny module of the international space station Thursday, July 28, 2005. The crew from left to right are Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi, front left, astronaut Wendy Lawrence, cosmonuat Sergei Krikalev, pilot James Kelly, astronaut Andy Thomas, astronaut John Phillips, astronauts Wendy Lawrence, and Charles Camarda. Discovery's seven astronauts will work with the two-man crew living aboard the ISS for eight days before returning to Earth. (AP Photo/NASA TV)Credit:

HOUSTON - NASA officially
extended the flight of its first space shuttle mission since the Columbia
disaster, giving astronauts an extra day at the International Space Station
(ISS) to move spare equipment and water into the orbital facility.

The space shuttle Discovery
will stay docked while its STS-114 crew cobbles together excess shuttle supplies
for transfer into the station, mission managers said during a Saturday
briefing.

"We'll sure appreciate
getting that extra day," said NASA space station program manager William Gerstenmaier
during the briefing here at Johnson Space Center (JSC).

The extra time
will allow Discovery's crew to gather a few hundred pounds of items from around
the spacecraft - including laptop computers, tools, pens, paper, printers and
an additional 20-day supply of water - for use on the ISS since the STS-114
mission may be the last shuttle flight to visit the ISS until NASA solves an external
tank foam
shedding problem seen during the orbiter's July 26 launch.

But that debris issue
should not affect Discovery's Earth return, now set for the early morning hours
of Aug. 8.

During the briefing, NASA
deputy shuttle program manager Wayne Hale also said that Discovery's
heat-resistant ceramic tiles and a loose thermal blanket have been given a
clean bill of health.

That clears 90 percent of
Discovery for the return flight to Earth, with the final analyses of its wing
leading edges expected Sunday to be followed a day later by aerodynamics
reports on a pair of gap fillers
jutting out from between the orbiter's belly-mounted tiles, he added.

"The orbiter is performing nearly
flawlessly," Hale said. "The crew is performing in just an awesome manner...we
had an outstanding EVA."